Most of my life I could not have cared less about politics. I believe it was CNN’s live broadcast of the bombing of Baghdad in the early 90s that first really got my attention. That, coupled with my brother’s deployment in Desert Storm, nudged me into pausing my busy life and listening. With my new awareness, I began reading more political articles in newspapers and magazines, and I started catching a few cable news shows during the 90s. But it wasn’t until the 2000 elections that I really became mentally engaged. In this last decade since then, I have read and listened carefully to as much as I could reasonably fit into and absorb in an average day. Now, because my life has changed and I have more time, writing seems to be a natural progression.

So I begin with the universal statement made by politicians all over this country… “American voters are smart. ” What they never say though, is that American voters are busy people with busy lives, and that smart or not, we are all susceptible to behaving like witless automatons when it comes to deciding who or what gets our vote.

Its not our fault. We are asked to choose a winner between two teams that we seldom have time to watch. We don’t know the players or their coaches. We don’t know the owners or what deals are being made behind the scenes. We never knew or only recall some of the history of either team, and what is recalled , is different for each of us. To make it worse, the teams play without divulging the true rules of the game, and the referees take sides while pretending to be fair and unbiased. There is so much we don’t know and yet we must decide. We want to make the right decision. We want our vote to count for something. So we listen to the chants, and the cheers, and the boos, and to the fans that seem most like ourselves.

It is my hope that in the days to come I will be able to sort through all the political jumble in my head. (The elections are only days away.) Writing helps me focus and prioritize. If sorting through my jumble in this way is in anyway helpful to another voter, then my time spent will be doubly beneficial.

Do I sense a ‘tongue in cheek’ tone to this post? I fear the cynic in me has given me a quite different perspective on American voters – in fact, my email signature is, ‘We are a nation of fools’. Lest I be misunderstood, allow me a further explanation – as I’ve aged and become a member of the senior set, I have been repeatedly disturbed by how seemingly intelligent people seem unable to sense their own best political options – this reality has left me with only one explanation; as people age, they must lose the ability to make common sense decisions, especially those in their own best interest. I’m not sure if this is a disease, a genetic malfunction, or atrophy of the brain, but something is seriously wrong.

If I seem to have gone over the edge, please forgive – but I suspect a kindred spirit – and I too enjoy your style.

Looks like you’ve seen through me. Your email signature seems accurate, but I attribute the condition to factors other than age. I believe there are many smart people in business and government that have learned big lessons from the past. Lessons they use to “dumb up” the poor and the middle class. Of course, it requires a willingness to allow this, but I am more forgiving of folks who are too busy to keep up with all of it.
Want a ten year war without protests? No problem. Viet Nam taught them to avoid the draft. Sweeten service by waving the flag. Talk up our greatness and label dissenters as Un-American.
Want more votes? Forget unity. Stir up the emotions till they are all worked up. They won’t calm down long enough to use commonsense.
I could go on, but then that might be a new post. I think you get my drift. None of my friends are into politics. Really nice to have someone pay atttention and provide comments.